The Koch brothers: What can’t they do?

In an attempt to make them the centerpiece of Democrats’ efforts to retain the Senate in November’s midterms, Mr. Reid has regularly used the two billionaires as his go-to bogeymen, referring to Republicans’ “addiction to Koch” (yes, the surname is pronounced Coke) and regularly attacking political advertising that the Kochs have funded.

Crittenden does not explore the quality or the quantity of the Reid attacks, but it is a useful compilation nevertheless.

As Charles Cooke has observed, what we have here is the modern Democratic version of the phenomenon that George Orwell depicted in 1984 as the Two Minutes Hate. It has become the device of the hour with new extensions into other markets of the left. See, for example, Cooke’s “The new fascism rolls on.”

The New York Times usually blazes the path for left-wing politicos to follow, but in this case the Times is bringing up the rear. With a suitably Marxist slant, for example, Times columnist Timothy Egan now takes his cue from Reid to explore the thematic question: “Can the Koch brothers hold back history?” It may be the stupidest column published so far this year, but Harry Reid appreciates it.